Adjustable open end ratchet wrench

ABSTRACT

An adjustable open end ratchet wrench having one jaw member pivotally attached to a handle and a second jaw member slidably received by the handle juxtaposed the pivotal jaw member; the sliding jaw member being spring-biased out of the handle and into a closing relationship with the fixed jaw member; an incremental adjusting mechanism coupled between the handle and the sliding jaw whereby when the handle is rotated in one direction, the adjusting mechanism latches and locks the slidable jaw with respect to the fixed jaw and when rotated in another direction, releases allowing the slidable jaw to be forced inward against the spring biasing means for ratcheting around a nut being tightened or loosened.

[ 51 May 2, 1972 [541 ADJUSTABLE OPEN END RATCHET WRENCH [72] Inventor:Albert Roth, 6248 Rockhurst Drive, San

Diego, Calif. 92120 [22] Filed: Sept. 2, 1970 [21] Appl.No.: 69,021

1,082,601 12/1913 McCarthy ..8l/l35 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS603,595 H1926 France ..8 H134 Primary Examiner-James L. Jones, Jr.Attorney- Richard K. MacNeill [57] ABSTRACT An adjustable open endratchet wrench having one jaw member pivotally attached to a handle anda second jaw member sliclably received by the handle juxtaposed thepivotal jaw member; the sliding jaw member being spring-biased out ofthe handle and into a closing relationship with the fixed jaw member; anincremental adjusting mechanism coupled between the handle and thesliding jaw whereby when the handle is rotated in one direction, theadjusting mechanism latches and locks the slidable jaw with respect tothe fixed jaw and when rotated in another direction, releases allowingthe slidable jaw to be forced inward against the spring biasing meansfor ratcheting around a nut being tightened or loosened.

9 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PATENTEDMM 2 I972 $659,485

IN VliN'l OR A LBERT ROTH 1 ADJUSTABLE OPEN END RATCHET WRENCH BRIEFDESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an openend ratchet wrench and more particularly to an open end ratchet wrenchwhich is self-adjusting.

According to the invention, an 'open end self-adjusting ratchet wrenchis provided having first and second jaws surrounded and carried by ahandle portion. One of the jaws is pivotally attached to the handleportion and terminates in a raised protruding portion which protrudesoutside the handle. The second jaw, slidable jaw, is slidably receivedby the handle portion juxtaposed the fixed or pivotal jaw and isspring-biased out of the handle, i.e., toward the closure of the jawsand away from the closed edge of the handle. In one embodiment, alocking pin is provided on the handle portion cooperating with theplurality of notches in the slidable jaw which maintains a lockedposition when rotated in one direction and a ratcheting or unlatchedposition when rotated in the other direction. In the preferredembodiment, a member having a saw-toothed surface on one end and araised hump on the other end is carried by the handle portion. Thesaw-toothed surface cooperates with a similar saw-toothed surfacecomprising the internal closed portion of the handle, whereas, theraised hump cooperates with a single recess in the slidable jaw suchthat when the hump engages the recess in the slidable jaw, a compressionspring forces the slidable jaw into closure upon a nut held between thetwo jaws, carrying with it the aforementioned member which ratchets to aposition determined by the size of the nut, but permitting the jaws toratchet when desired by disengaging the hump in the member from therecess in the slidable jaw. A further feature would lie in a means forsetting the overall relationship between one of the jaws and the handlefor calibrating the various incrementally sized changes offered by thelatching mechanism.

An object of the present invention is the provision of an open endratchet wrench which is adjustable.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of an open endratchet wrench which is self-adjusting.

A further object of the invention is the provision of an open endratchet wrench which is incrementally adjustable.

Yet another object of the invention is the provision of an open endratchet wrench which is incrementally adjustable and can be calibrated.

Still another object of the invention is the provision of an open endratchet wrench which is inexpensive to manufacture and extremelyconvenient in use.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of an open endratchet wrench which can be locked to any incremental or calibratedposition.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of an open endratchet wrench fitted with a nut rest which permits the jaws of thewrench to remain centered on the nut.

Other objects and many of the attendant advantages of this inventionwill be readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood byreference to the following detailed description when considered inconnection with the accompanying drawings in which like referencenumerals designate like parts throughout the figs thereof and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of another embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 3 is a side elevation of still another embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 4 is an illustration of an adjustment feature which can be added tothe embodiments of FIGS. 1 and 2;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a portion of the embodiment of FIG. 2;and

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a portion of the embodiment of FIG. 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Referring to FIG. 1, an adjustableopen end ratchet wrench is shown generally at 11 having a pivotal jawmember 12 and a slidable jaw member 13. Pivotal jaw member 12 ispivotally attached to handle 14 at pivot pin 16. Slidable jaw member 13is slidably received by handle 14 and coupled to handle 14 viacompression spring 17. Slidable jaw member 13 has a plurality ofrecesses 18 dimensioned for cooperation with a ratchet pin 19 carried bya set of notches 25 in the handle and held in place by wire spring 21and handle portion 14. Release pin 22 is slidably carried byhandle'portion 14 and is in physical contact with slidable jaw 13. Nutrest 23 is rotatably press fit on jaw member 12. Pivotal jaw member 12has a raised portion 15 which raises out of handle portion 14. Handleportion 14 carries a lock press 24.

Referring to FIG. 2, a second embodiment is shown generally at 26 havinga pivotal jaw 27 and a slidable jaw 28. Pivotal jaw 27 is carried bypivot pin 29 in handle portion 31. Handle portion 31 carries a ratchetmember 32 held in place by a leaf spring 33. Ratchet member 32 isdimensioned for reception by recesses 34 in slidable jaw 28. Springmember 36 is carried by pivotal jaw 27 and slidable jaw 28 biasingslidable jaw 28 to the left for a closure of the jaws. Release pin 37 iscarried by handle member 31 and is in physical contact with slidable jawmember 28.

Referring to FIG. 3, an open end ratchet wrench is shown at 41 havingpivotal jaw 42 coupled to a handle portion 43 by pivot pin 44. Slidablejaw 46 is slidably received by handle member 43 and coupled thereto viacompression spring 47 which biases slidable jaw 46 toward a closure withpivotal jaw 42. Saw-toothed member 48 is carried by handle member 43 andhas a saw-toothed surface cooperating with a saw-toothed surface 49 onthe internal portion of the handle and a raised hump portion 50 whichcooperates with a recess in the slidable jaw 46.

Referring to FIG. 4, slidable jaw 52 is shown juxtaposed pivotal jaw 53and is carried within handle portion 54. A rotatable disc 56, carrying ahinge pin 55 offset from the center, is carried by the handle 54 so thatrotating the disc moves the hinge pin for setting the relative positionsof the slidable jaw portion 52 and pivotal jaw portion 53.

Referring to FIG. 5, ratchet member 32 is shown from FIG. 2.

Referring to FIG. 6, saw-toothed member 48 is shown from FIG. 3.

OPERATION Referring back to FIG. 1, it can be seen that ratchet pin 19is not engaging recesses 18, hence, compression spring 17 will exert aforce on slidable jaw member 13 forcing it against pivotal jaw 23. Atthe time a nut is to be loosened, for example, necessitating therotation of the wrench in a counterclock-wise direction, release pin 22would be depressed slightly and slidable jaw 13 pulled into handleportion 14 against biasing spring 17. When the nut is between pivotaljaw 12 and slidable jaw 13, release pin 22 is released allowingcompression spring 17 to bias slidable jaw 13 back toward pivotal jaw 23loosely holding the nut in place. At this time, handle portion 14 isgripped along with protruding portion 15 of pivotal jaw 12 and ratchetpin 19 will fit within a recess 18 of slidable jaw 13 holding the twojaws in a locked position with respect to each other. It is pointed out,that when protruded portion 15 is urged into handle portion 14, the twojaws and handle portion 14 rotate in opposite directions around pivotpin 16 forcing ratchet pin 19 within one of the recesses 18 dependingupon the size of the nut. As the wrench is rotated in acounterclock-wise direction, the ratchet pin 19 will be held within oneof the recesses 18. However, when the wrench is to be rotated in aclock-wise direction, the grip on the handle is released allowing thecompression spring 17 to force the slidable jaw away from the ratchetpin 19 so that the notch in said slidable jaw will disengage from theratchet pin allowing the slidable jaw 13 to be urged against the tensionof spring 17 which, in turn, allows a ratcheting around the nut beingloosened. The slot in handle 14, from which ratchet pin 19 protrudes,allows for an adjustment of the wrench to odd sizes which reduces thenumber of recesses 18 by half; i.e., if recesses 18 represent adifference in size of 1/16 of an inch, the slot would shift the entirescale by 1/32 of an inch.

FIG. 2 illustrates a variant in that a spring 36 now biases slidable jaw28 to the left. The pivotal jaw 27 has been reduced in length with theprotruding portion removed. In this embodiment, it is no longeressential to release a protruding portion of the pivotal jaw since therotational torque against the jaws serves to engage and disengageratchet pin 32 from recesses 34. The remaining parts are substantiallyidentical to those in FIG. 1. 7

Referring to FIG; 3, the ratchet pin 19 of FIG. 1 has been replaced by asaw-toothed surface 48 of a saw-toothed member which cooperates with asaw-toothed surface 49 of slidable jaw 46.' This allows for a greaterbearing surface, as well as a more positive ratcheting action due to thenature of the mating saw-toothed surfaces.

Referring to FIG. 4, an adjustment between handle 54 and pivotal jaw 53is provided which lineraly displaces the two jaws through an eccentriccam 57 in cooperation with hinge pin 55. This will allow for a universalfine adjustment between jaws 52 and 53 which was not possible throughthe slot in cooperation with ratchet pin 19 of FIG 1, for example.

Referring to FIG. 5, the ratchet pin member 32 of FIG. 2 is shown inperspective which can be a stamped part.

Referring to FIG. 6, the saw-toothed member 48 of FIG. 3 is illustratedwhich again can be a stamped part.

It should be understood of course that the foregoing disclosure relatesto only a preferred embodiment of the invention and that it is intendedto cover all changes and modifications of the example of the inventionherein chosen for the purposes of the disclosure which do not constitutedepartures from the spirit and scope of the invention.

The invention claimed is:

1. An adjustable open end ratchet wrench comprising:

a handle member;

a pivotal jaw pivotally connected to and received by said handle member;

A slidable jaw slidably received by said handle member juxtaposed saidpivotal jaw;

spring biasing means coupled between said slidable jaw and said handlemember and said pivotal jaw for biasing said slidable jaw out of saidhandle member; 7

A plurality of recesses in one surface of said slidable jaw; and

a ratchet means coupled to said handle member and including at least oneprotrusion for cooperation with said plurality of recesses in saidslidable jaw.

2. The adjustable open end ratchet wrench of claim 1 wherein:

said spring biasing means comprises a compression spring coupled betweensaid handle member and said slidable jaw.

3. The adjustable open end ratchet wrench of claim 1 wherein:

said spring biasing means comprises a coil spring coupled between saidslidable jaw and said pivotal jaw.

4. The adjustable open end ratchet wrench of claim 1 wherein:

said ratchet means includes a ratchet pin for cooperation with saidplurality of recesses.

5. The adjustable open end ratchet wrench of claim 1 wherein:

said plurality of recesses comprises a saw-toothed surface and saidratchet means comprises a saw-toothed surface.

6. The adjustable open end ratchet wrench of claim 1 wherein:

said pivotal jaw and said handle member are pivotally con nected via aneccentric cam.

7. The adjustable open end ratchet wrench of claim 1 wherein:

said at least one protrusion 1s adjustable for changing the overallscale between said pivotal jaw and said slidable jaw.

8. The adjustable open end ratchet wrench of claim 1 and furtherincluding:

a nut rest rotatably carried by one of said pivotal and slidable jaws.

9. The adjustable open end ratchet wrench of Claim 1 and furtherincluding:

locking means coupled between said handle member and one of said pivotaland slidable jaws for locking said jaws in a desired position.

i It i i

1. An adjustable open end ratchet wrench comprising: a handle member; apivotal jaw pivotally connected to and received by said handle member; Aslidable jaw slidably received by said handle member juxtaposed saidpivotal jaw; spring biasing means coupled between said slidable jaw andsaid handle member and said pivotal jaw for biasing said slidable jawout of said handle member; A plurality of recesses in one surface ofsaid slidable jaw; and a ratchet means coupled to said handle member andincluding at least one protrusion for cooperation with said plurality ofrecesses in said slidable jaw.
 2. The adjustable open end ratchet wrenchof claim 1 wherein: said spring biasing means comprises a compressionspring coupled between said handle member and said slidable Jaw.
 3. Theadjustable open end ratchet wrench of claim 1 wherein: said springbiasing means comprises a coil spring coupled between said slidable jawand said pivotal jaw.
 4. The adjustable open end ratchet wrench of claim1 wherein: said ratchet means includes a ratchet pin for cooperationwith said plurality of recesses.
 5. The adjustable open end ratchetwrench of claim 1 wherein: said plurality of recesses comprises asaw-toothed surface and said ratchet means comprises a saw-toothedsurface.
 6. The adjustable open end ratchet wrench of claim 1 wherein:said pivotal jaw and said handle member are pivotally connected via aneccentric cam.
 7. The adjustable open end ratchet wrench of claim 1wherein: said at least one protrusion is adjustable for changing theoverall scale between said pivotal jaw and said slidable jaw.
 8. Theadjustable open end ratchet wrench of claim 1 and further including: anut rest rotatably carried by one of said pivotal and slidable jaws. 9.The adjustable open end ratchet wrench of Claim 1 and further including:locking means coupled between said handle member and one of said pivotaland slidable jaws for locking said jaws in a desired position.